Ah! And there is himself taking off in the morning CAP in F-13. https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Onl...00/g312016.jpg
He was one of maybe five VF-3 aviators to actually fly his assigned plane in the battle, Leonard in #13, Tootle in #18, DC "Tom" Barnes in #17, Bass in #22 and, of course, Thach who switched from the slightly shot-up, and more importantly, un-refueled #23 of the morning strike escort to his assigned #1 for the torpedo plane interception. Those are the only ones I can think of. Everyone else took what was spotted when their time came to launch for whatever purpose.